Compound Fracture is so much more than I anticipated it to be! It follows Miles, a trans, autistic teen who lives in rural West Virginia and is part of a long-lasting family feud. Miles' family is working class, and Miles finds comfort in far left politics. This truly felt like a love letter to the author's upbringing, as Miles explains that he loves West Virginia through and through, despite its numerous issues. This book is extremely dark, and pretty graphic - more so than I was anticipating for a book marketed as young adult. But I really appreciated how it was written. I think the author was able to convey so many important messages without feeling preachy - trans and queerness were accepted and stood up for, and the importance of community was repeated throughout. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, but particularly for queer rural teens who want to feel themselves represented in a positive way.

Thank you to Peachtree Teen and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A queer Appalachian thriller following a trans autistic teen thrown into the general struggle between the rural poor and those who will exploit them. Miles Abernathy is a sixteen year old socialist who has just come out as trans to his parents... and when he sneaks off to a party carrying evidence that would turn the tide in the feud in Twist Creek.... proving that the county's sheriff has been killing people and purposely injured Miles's father, things take a dark turn as the sheriff's son faces off against Miles. Miles just wanted to go unnoticed but its too late when the sheriff's son catches him with the evidence and proceeds to beat him to near death to keep him silent... and when the Sheriff threatens Miles into silence, Miles accidentally kills one of the boys who had hurt him. Everyone is under the sheriff's heel but maybe Miles will be the one to finally break this cycle... even if it means bodies will start dropping and blood is the only way to end the feud. This was a bloody brutal story about a small town feud, the toxic treatment of queer individuals, and the lengths people will go to to control others. Miles was such an interesting and compelling character who is constantly being handed terrible situations and must find a way to endure and survive them. This was a twisted fun read and one I would absolutely recommend for anyone who enjoys a good thriller and complex characters. I have been a huge fan of Andrew Joseph White's stories and writing and this one did not miss at all for me. I would absolutely recommend this book!

Release Date: September 3, 2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Holiday House / Peachtree / Pixel+Ink | Peachtree Teen for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Whew, this was a hell of a ride. And a pretty brutal one at times, too. But also, hopeful, even in the darkest of places. I appreciated that balance, frankly. We meet Miles, a trans teen who also has some undiagnosed autism. He lives in West Virginia, in a very rural community, so you can imagine that it might be extra hard for him. He's come out to his parents, and he has found some information on the (extra shitty) sheriff that implicates him in a ton of bad stuff. But as you can imagine, it isn't that easy when the "good ol' boys" run everything.

The story has several components: one, of course, being the corrupt local government and Miles's determination to hold them accountable. The other is Miles's relationships with his family, his friends, and his path of self discovery. He learns a lot about who he is and what he can do over the course of the story, and it is great to read about. He meets some people along the way who he really needed to meet, and I loved that for him. I don't want to say too much about any of these folks/entities for fear of spoilers, but I felt like every character introduced had a big impact on the story, which I love.

It did start off a little slower for me- I kind of thought parts of the first third could have been pared down a tad, but when it got going, I was absolutely hooked. Of course at that point, I was also super invested in Miles as a character, which helped! Anyway, things got really intense at certain points, and maybe it required just a touch of suspension of disbelief, but I didn't struggle to do so.

I found the commentary here really thought provoking. As much as Miles has gone through it in his community, he still loves living there. I have always wondered how people who live in such red areas (especially those who face hate because of who they are in such places) can stand it, and I loved that this book shed a light on that.

Bottom Line: Another hit from Andrew Joseph White, who continues to write incredible commentary with the most wonderfully messed up plots like no other.

The pacing was off which distracted from the entire story. There was so much build up for a main event that fell flat and was unfulfilling. The characters were well written but unfortunately the concept was just not as engaging as previous works I’ve read by this author.

At this point, I honestly don't believe that Andrew Joseph White could write a book I don't love. Compound Fracture was another incredible feat!

Plot Overview:
● Miles Abernathy, an autistic trans teen, & his family are embroiled in a brutal decades-long feud with the Davies family. Sheriff Davies tried to kill his dad, who was trying to make positive changes to their small Appalachian town.
● Miles recently came out as trans to his family and community.
● Davies's son & friends savagely attack Miles.
● Miles and his friend, Cooper, decide to get revenge.

What I loved:
● White's (@ajwhiteauthor) autistic protagonists validate my thoughts, feelings, & experiences as an autistic person.
● The complexity of the characters. For example, Miles knows he's definitely trans, but he's still figuring how he defines himself in other ways, who he feels safe with, how to protect his family, & how to break the generational cycle of violence in his family.
● The realness of Googling to find out more about oneself
● Miles's whole family, even if they're confused about Miles's gender identity & thought processes, will defend each other NO MATTER WHAT.
● Validation of self-diagnosis as being autistic

What didn’t work for me:
● Absolutely nothing. I loved every part of this book.

Who I’d recommend this to:
● Fans of social thrillers & horror
● Readers looking for diversity in gender identities & sexual orientations in characters
● Readers who like descriptive writing & fast-paced plots

Thanks to @NetGalley & @peachtreepublishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White is brutal, thrilling, and downright horrifying (/pos!) Miles, a trans autistic kid from West Virginia, is an Abernathy. One part of a generations long blood feud that has ripped apart his family and others in Twist Creek County. Miles might just be able to free Twist Creek of corrupt Sheriff Davies’ control, with proof of Davies’s involvement in the “accident” that killed an innocent person and injured his dad.
But there is more to this feud than meets the eye and Miles is drowning in it. Before he knows it, he’s accidentally killed one kid and covered it up. Now he has to survive the fallout.

5 Star read, no hesitation. I love all of AJW’s work. The way that Compound Fracture ties in elements of social issues, societal perception, and the unfortunate realities of poverty really solidified this book as a favorite of mine. For Miles to so clearly articulate and understand the harm his community has faced really stuck with me. His thinking was never black-and-white, which is sometimes easy for characters to fall victim too. Yes, his family had a difficult time understanding his transness, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to exclude them from
his life. I’m so proud of his family for growing with him. And gosh, all Miles wanted to do was protect his family, community, and himself. The result of that is what it is, no taking it back or saying sorry- and thats absolutely what this book is about.

Andrew Joseph White has done it yet again. This book brought everything I expected as well as way more and I love that so much. Once again, another must buy from this author!!! <33

Compound Fracture follows Miles, an autistic trans kid, whose family is part of a generations long feud with the Sheriff’s family started by a family member that led a workers strike after a mine collapse.

This book was fast-paced and never left me bored. The relationship between Miles and his parents and Miles and Dallas as well as Dallas’s family was definitely the standout for me and definitely didn’t make me cry at any point (lies). Miles is probably the most memorable protagonist to me of AJW’s books. I liked his attitude and his way of interacting with the world it was just so real!!! And the aromantic/ asexual rep was also very lovely to see!

*slight spoilers ahead*

There’s not much I disliked in the book, but I wish there was more information on why Dallas’s and Cooper’s families were brought into the feud. It makes sense in the context of the book why the Sheriff targets anyone in proximity with the Abernathys and anyone who crosses him but then why did it take him so long to learn about Dallas’s family returning and their socialist establishment? I feel there were some minor inconsistencies or topics that could’ve been elaborated upon but they didn’t affect my enjoyment of the story, it was still super fun and engaging!! that I also would have loved more of Cooper as he was a very interesting character and it would have been nice to understand more of his life (even though he was pissing me off towards the end I feel like he had a very drastic character shift which makes sense in context but also?? more please)

Overall suchhhh a fun book as always everyone say thank you AJW and I can’t wait to read it again!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book made me the most uncomfortable with a book since a long while. In a good way

The only other book that has made me more uncomfortable was House of Leaves and that book what a whole different kind of experience. It were so many layers that made this book uncomfortable for me that I struggle to sum it all up. But don't get me wrong, this wasn't a bad quality of the book. It's meant to be uncomfortable that's clear, and the book did so masterfully.

This book is very detailed in it's gore. Things I absolutely love in White his books. This book delivers with gruesome details just like the previous ones did. There is a difference though. This book isn't as much a story with many fantasy elements, it's deeply rooted in the nowadays time. It has gore made by humans like your average neighbor. It gives this book a feeling that makes it come way closer to home than White's previous books did. I felt like I was reading a story my friends could've told me happening in their neighborhood. It made this book incredibly intense.

I also felt like this book felt so human in it relationships with the main character. Although... it probably felt so human to me because of the Autism of the main character.
What I liked about the relationships however is that they weren't wholly good or wholly bad. There were parents who were kind of supportive, but at the same time difficult about it. I have not seen this done in fiction often. Most times parents are wholeheartedly supportive or deeply transphobic. Seeing this way of a coming out reaction be put in the book was very refreshing to read and made me think back a lot on my own coming out.
Often young adult novels also have the main character have this one best friend or a group of close friends that are their steadfast companions. This book the main character really didn't have friends to start with. That changes during the book that I won't talk about, but at the start the main character is clearly quite alone. This take I also found really interesting to read. I don't relate to it much, but I know gaming friends of mine who had quite the same experience. So to have this be so clearly put in a book was neat.

Then the plot itself of the book felt tense from start to finish. I wasn't able to stop thinking about it and it had fully gripped me. There was always the feeling of danger being there leading the story on, forcing the main character to take big actions that felt overwhelming sometimes. But it felt overwhelming in the right way and made it so much fun to read and keep on going to see where it would lead him next.

I think that there was another layer to it being so uncomfortable that's a bit more unique to non USA readers though. I often feel awkward reading deeply American high school stories. It always seems to be so close to being relatable, but it just isn't. And that has made me feel off with a significant number of books in the past. This book that felt so American was no different. I'm not saying that that's good or bad, it just is and that's okay. It did make me rant about this with friends though and it felt worth it to mention in the review.

Concluding I want to say that this book feels very unique and executes that perfectly, while at the same time telling a great story.2

As a fan of Andrew Joseph White, I have been waiting for this book since it was announced. I love the autism rep in this book so much! It was very accurate, in my opinion, and it’s clear that many aspects of the main character were pulled from experience. This is another great book from a great author.

Oof, this book hits where it hurts. The story grabbed me from the very beginning! Trans rage is one of my favorite things to read and this book delivers in abundance! The added notes of a society crushed under the weight of capitalism added with the push for anarchy really resonated with how I feel about today’s political climate. Adding to it spectacular trans Rep, and this book is one you don’t want to miss! It’s not cute and cuddly. Instead it’s full of rage and gore, and it’s perfection.

As in every AJW book you're thrown into a story you first have to navigate and understand but as soon as you do it won't let you go.
More than once i thought "This book feels like a twisted version of Heathers, if Heathers was queer and communist". It is dark and gory and you definitely shouldn't pick this if you want a light read. It won't make you feel good and that's okay, because I think this is the purpose of this book. To see reality is to hurt.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book!

Every time I read an AJW book I’m struck by how lucky young, queer neurodivergent people are to have an author who sees them so clearly and treats them and their experiences so seriously and doesn’t condescend to them, cause when I was growing up it just did not exist at all. It also makes me appreciate the importance of ‘Own Voice’ stories and I would be curious to hear a perspective on this book from somebody with autism cause being in Miles head was a lot at times.

I really enjoy AJWs narrative voice and writing style, so I definitely still had a great time with this, but it was also not my favourite AJW book (TSBIT still holds that title). I personally found that I enjoyed the first half of this more than the second half (mainly cause there was a storyline that came up that I didn’t really enjoy and didn’t think was necessary- but that’s personal preference for you) but it still ended strong.

I did have a moment where I wondered if this book was trying to provide commentary on perhaps a few TOO many big meaty political/societal issues in current day America and if the strength of commentary on these topics kind of gets a bit lost because of that? Although it’s kind of bleak that the cultural critique of the MAGA insanity was in the context of 2016 and yet here we are still.

I’ll admit that as much as I enjoyed it that it still felt like it didn’t quite live up to all the potential that was there in the building blocks. Also comparatively mild in AJW trademark barf inducing gore scenes 😂 I kept waiting for it cause I knew it was coming and there was only really one scene that made me pull an ick face.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book

I'm in that haze, right now. You know, the one after you've read a book so good that you genuinely don't know what to do? It's processing, in a way; finding just the right words to be able to describe exactly what this book made me feel.

The short answer: everything.

Compound Fracture is a novel about Miles Abernathy, a trans and autistic kid who loves his family and hates the situation that history has placed them in. It's a very political novel in the best possible way; a love letter to unionization and the working class, full of a small town queer kid's rage.

Andrew Joseph White has a phenomenal ability to write about things that I have never been able to put into words. Rage, yes, but not just that. His writing captures emotions so well, and it makes reading his books so encompassing. You're not just reading about Miles' anger and fear, you're living it. You're right there in Twist Creek, and if you weren't angry at the injustice of the world before this book, you sure as hell will be after.

It's strange to feel such comfort in a horror/thriller novel, but AJW just has a way of doing that. And for that I'm grateful.

Thanks to Holiday House/Peachtree/Pixel+Ink and NetGalley for the ARC!

This is such a weird little book, and I honestly am not 100% sure how to categorize it. It's a contemporary story with horror elements, but I'm not sure that's where I would end up classifying it as, if I had to pick one specific label. I would almost call it...political. I don't know. Maybe I'll stick with gut-punch, because that certainly sums it up. Right off the bat I want to say that this is a ROUGH novel. It's not for the faint of heart, and deals with a variety of very tough topics, so anyone who picks it up should be aware of that. That being said it is very good, and if you can stand it I would suggest giving it a try. I almost don't really know how to review this book, because it's such a mish-mash of things that shouldn't really work together but somehow do. The writing is spot on, the characters are expertly messy, and the whole thing is brutal. White stated that it took him 8 years to get this book right, and in those 8 years he certainly did something right. It's gritty, it's violent, it's not elegant in the least, but damn if it doesn't stick with you and keep popping up at the weirdest times. Teens and adults alike should read this book, and I will certainly be hand-selling it to anyone I can convince to pick it up.

Compound Fracture is a horror story about a trans, autistic kid who’s trapped in a blood feud in his small Appalachian town. Throughout the story, you discover what happened 100 years ago during the miners strike that resulted in his great-great-grandfather Saint being executed as well as what happened 5 years ago when he was in middle school with his friends Dallas and Cooper. Now, in high school, on the night that he sends a letter to his parents that he’s trans, he gets beat up by three boys in the town. When he wakes up he sees the ghost of Saint. The rest of the story details various ways his friends and family attempt to end this generational violence through political activism and murder. I personally loved that Cooper’s fine with the bad people dying and them being the ones to do it.

This story also deals with withdrawal from pain meds, transphobia, misgendering, and a forced outing. His parents, particularly his mom, refuse to believe he’s trans because the timing is awkward with his injury. However, his friend Cooper accepted him and I loved that. It was interesting reading the perspective of someone who just came out rather than someone who’s been out trans for a while. Since he’s not out to everyone there’s a lot of mingendering and wincing at that.

This book is insanely queer as it deals with discovering yourself and ends with a queerplatonic partnership. There’s also complex queer identities including being agender, aromantic, and trans over 100 years ago. It describes the experience of being trans so well. His grandma even asks if he’s lesbian because he has short hair, but he doesn’t even like girls. Miles found it refreshing to talk to another trans person and he was too real for that. Meanwhile, it was left open ended about Cooper’s queerness.

There’s also many neurodivergent characters with ADHD and autism. I found it interesting reading how his autism, his parents' autism, and Dallas’ sister-in-law’s autism is presented. His whole family doesn’t look people in the eye. It takes a bit of work for Miles to show emotions, and he has a shoelace stim that’s mentioned often. I didn’t realize Miles didn’t know he was autistic until he googles it, like people google gay quizzes. I didn’t realize because he’s described as trans in the book’s summary. Furthermore, I noticed conversations in the book skip around replicating how TV shows make frame cuts which I quite enjoyed.

There’s also a lot of communist commentary as Miles and Dallas’ family are communists. I love when communists can actually apply their ideas, so I found I really liked what Dallas’ family were doing with their successful worker coop and not so much what Miles was describing. Since Miles is a communist and they don’t have health insurance, he did provide interesting commentary there. I also found it interesting to learn about the political landscape of living in a small West Virginia town in 2019 when Trump is president.

The story goes from murder to political and collective organization. Due to generational violence, many people are permanently injured and disfigured including Dallas with burn scars and Miles as a result of the attack, or killed. It contains a bittersweet, open-ended ending about what comes next for the town. Overall, I enjoyed how queer and autistic this book was and learning about Appalachia. However, this is not a topic I am particularly interested in which is why I gave it a 4.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, Holiday House/Peachtree/Pixel+Ink, and Andrew Joseph White for the advanced copy of Compound Fracture.

Another stellar, yet horrifying book by Andrew Joseph White.

In Compound Fracture, we follow Miles, a trans teen in small town West Virginia, as he and his family face the centuries-long feud between their family and the family of the town's Sheriff. After being beaten within an inch of his life by the Sheriff's son and friends and a subsequent accident, Miles enlists the help of another victim of the Sheriff's family- Cooper. The ensuing revenge plot takes us on a wild ride to rid Miles' family of this feud.

This story was so compelling, I could barely put it down. I loved following Miles' journey from coming out to being injured to enacting revenge and ending the blood feud. His relationship with his parents and other family friends gave me cozy vibes, while his interactions with other characters sent shivers down my spine.

I had a similar opinion with The Spirit Bares Its Teeth last year- I personally don't think this should be classed as young adult. It is incredibly gory and violent, and while YA horror does exist, White takes the cake in terms of gore description,

Another stunning novel by Andrew Joseph White. Set in Appalachia with an autistic trans main character, this dark thriller had me binge reading the entire thing in one sitting.

2.5 rounded up.

I am so disappointed.... I loved Andrew Joseph White's first book, Hell Followed With Us, and recommended it to multiple students. (How many people caught the parallels to Biblical descriptions of angels???) His second book, The Spirit Bears Its Teeth, was more forgettable. This one I was worried about, and those fears were founded.

Most importantly, if you are going to make every main character an avatar of yourself, there's a lot of work and self-examination that has to take place for that to work out. I've seen other readers tire of this mechanism, but I actually appreciate this trick when done well. The stories themselves are of enough variety to show different facets and explore how traits and identities play across time and space. Kinda like Dr. Who, which I love.

But to do that, especially with oneself, you have to be willing to examine biases, triggers, etc. My guess is that this one is still just too close. The introduction never being edited although he completely expected to (according to said intro) was the first flag. I have found that the plot filtered through autism in AJW's work functions much like an unreliable narrator literary device and contributes to the plot twists and suspense. In this one, we the readers aren't given enough to work with. We don't really know why this feud is a thing, especially from the point of view of the Davies'. You need two to make a feud.

So many characters needed fleshing out and humanizing. Moustache twiddling Boris, aka Davies, does not make a good feud participant and reduces the entire thing.

Cooper was in love with Sadie. We didn't get to see that well because Miles completely misses it..Therefore his actions made much less sense. His magical transformation into villain really came out of nowhere and for no reason since it becomes immediately irrelevant.

Paul gets some complexity for a brief moment, and then the plot moves on and ignores the themes.

Even the family members! We need more mom and dad, mamaw and papaw. These are based on AJW's family, so it's possibly that once again we are too close so readers don't get any of the details; the things that make them human.

Then there's Saint. Saint had so much potential that was so under-realized that it turned into Why is he even here? We never get the true POV, only Miles's unreliable interpretations.

This isn't even mentioning things like Miles's inability to be wrong or even unsure about anything. This Miles is always right is the main wall between us and these characters we're missing. Even though Miles can't be wrong, he sure can't cover his tracks after the first death. I get immediate reactions not being anticipated, but c'mon wouldn't you go back and clean up things? Get rid of bodies? Etc etc etc.

Also, as the reviews have shown, there needed to be a bit of this: https://youtu.be/l1yzhc5VhU0?si=DDCJBAmX1gTb9TNX
(Explains socialism vs communism)

I really hope AJW visits somewhere for his next book that he can fully explore in its full complexity. Then we'll see if I can take the risk.